This article is supplied by Living Tenerife Magazine
La Libélula
“Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” William Morris
The only things visible in the home of Robert Shaw and Pablo de Pablo are truly beautiful; there is no clutter, nothing of the banal to distract the eye from the view, the art and the house.
La Libélula –the dragonfly – is an exquisite homage to design; exploiting the light, space and panorama to maximum effect and acting as a showcase for Robert and Pablo’s flawless taste and eclectic assemblage of paintings, sculptures and contemporary furniture.
Designed by Jost Peikert and built in 1989, La Libélula stands in over 17,000 square metres of gardens, orchards and vineyards in the hills above the village of Arona.
Entering from the walled garden and patio area, a wide gallery acts as central access to the house and leads the eye to the south-facing living and dining space. Here, a wall of glass provides compelling views down to the coast from Los Abrigos to Playa de las Americas. Taking full advantage of the viewing platform, a Le Corbusier reclining black leather chair is flanked by two Eileen Gray glass and chrome circular drinks tables. Terracotta coloured settees add a flash of contrast to the muted tones of the walls and the compressed limestone floor tiles. Standing as sentries to the terrace door are “Big Birds”; large, free standing, ceramic sculptures by Karen Holbrook. On the wall in the dining area, a Herbert Knight canvas, entitled 'Venice”, supplies rich hues of blue and orange while one of several, superb Josep Bofill sculptures in the house, sits perfectly apposite in its avant-garde surroundings.
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The steel and chrome kitchen presents the best in contemporary design and functionality. A single piece of stainless steel acts as the working surface which runs the length of the garden-facing wall. Housing all the kitchen equipment and accoutrements, ceiling to floor cabinets line one wall, finished in highly durable silestone. The central cupboard is Ferrari red; once again providing a bolt of colour to impact against the gleaming steel surfaces.
Adorning one wall is a Madeleine Dains evocative painting of a little girl at the window; Robert is something of an enthusiast; just about every room in the house contains a Dains canvas.
The master bedroom has a walk in dressing room, a study area in which hangs a commissioned Diane Carl painting entitled “Shaw” and the same panoramic views over the south coast as the living room. A large window in the en-suite bathroom takes full advantage of the vista; the Phillipe Starck half bath sits in the window like an invitation to the opera on the mantelpiece; full of anticipated pleasure. Three miniature models of the Chinese Terracotta Army guard the head of the bath from their lit alcove. Robert laughs when I admire them; “They’re just cheap things that I picked up in Pier 1 in the States, but they look great there, don’t they?” And that’s the point; everything in La Libélula looks absolutely perfect in the space it occupies; whether it’s a valuable Karen Holbrook sculpture or an IKEA chest of drawers bought fifteen years ago; it’s here because it has style and simplicity of design that complement the clean lines of the house.
Robert Shaw moved from Belfast to England when he was 18 years old, eventually settling in Sussex where he set up his own design business, later opening an office in Miami. He specialised in listed buildings, designing conversions that retained the character of the original construction. Today, Robert describes himself as “retired” but says he still does work for “special customers”.
“One of my clients has asked me to design some apartments and a club in Buenos Aires so I have to travel frequently between South America, Miami and here. Sometimes the journey can take me up to 35 hours. That’s why I’m selling; this project could take three years or more and I don’t want to spend most of that time travelling.” Having secured a house in Buenos Aires, Robert is reluctantly selling La Libélula.
A further guest suite is accessed from the patio and there are two more double bedrooms in the main part of the house, all en suite and one containing a private terrace with that view and a walk in dressing room. Each of the bathrooms contains a large shower room with controls separate from the shower head, so you can set the temperature before you step into the water flow; a simple touch, but one which enhances the shower’s performance. Like everything else in the house, functionality is not sacrificed to design; it’s enhanced by it, like the beautiful chrome light switches which gently illuminate to reveal themselves in the dark.
The walled garden extends up several levels with a red wooden framed walkway running through it; Pablo is my guide to the garden. Co-owner of La Libélula, Pablo comes originally from Segovia and is an artist himself (several of his wonderful paintings hang in the house) as well as a designer and an avid gardener.
“When we bought the house it had been empty for more than two years,” he tells me, “it took us over a month to reveal all the paths and steps that had become overgrown.”
We wander through breathtaking landscaped terraces and swathes of flowers to steps lined with a host of vivid yellow Welsh poppies which lead us to the barbecue area and the small bodega in which the estate’s four vineyards produce over 1000 litres of wine in an average year.
A semi-automatic watering system, operated through a series of valves, keeps the gardens healthy while all the rainwater which falls on the house, the patio and the road is collected through a series of channels and stored in underground tanks and reservoirs.
Paths meander through the estate, each affording a different view of the garden and surrounding countryside and each providing a fresh scent to the walk; jasmine, mimosa, eucalyptus and fig all pervade the air. The fruit orchard reveals row upon row of trees heavy with the promise of peaches, nectarines, apples, Chinese plums, apricots and almonds.
Just like its namesake, La Libélula is indeed a thing of beauty.
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Article Theme : Through the keyhole
Property Owner : Robert Shaw and Pablo de Pablo
Property Locality : Arona
Magazine issue : June 2005
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